As the economics of commercial IT infrastructure for television get better every year, broadcasters are eager to access the benefits of IP technology. The question isn’t if, or even when – it’s how. Specifically, how do broadcasters transform their installations to achieve the benefits of IP with as little risk and disruption as possible?

At Imagine Communications, we’ve been involved in every step of the media industry’s migration to IP — from the earliest demonstrations of IP transport of television signals to the development of the latest SMPTE standards. Because we understand that most facilities today have a significant investment in baseband infrastructure, our IP innovation builds on existing technologies, while providing a bridge to next-generation infrastructures.

We were the first in the industry to merge baseband processing and IP networking into a single, modular platform; the first to add an uncompressed-over-IP I/O option to a 1RU baseband signal processing platform; and the first to demonstrate native uncompressed-over-IP support in an integrated channel playout solution.

Today, we’re paving the way for migration of functionality into virtualized environments by pioneering a software-defined networking (SDN) framework that enables the video bit flow to be software-mapped. Based on open standards, this scalable SDN architecture allows media operations to continue performing high-quality video processing in baseband, while providing an on- and off-ramp to baseband-over-IP via a software control layer.

We’ve been quite prolific on IP for some time, so we invite you to browse our library below to learn more. Even better – let’s talk. We would love to hear your thoughts on where and when IP fits into your business.

Driving IP Innovation with Industry Standards

Critical to the future of the media industry is the widespread adoption of industry standards to provide a swift and streamlined transition to a more versatile and flexible environment. An IP technology infrastructure based on open standards provides broadcasters with the agility to adjust business models essentially on the fly, capitalize on new revenue opportunities, and add new capabilities and services without having to constantly rebuild their workflows.

Authentic industry standards are forged through collaboration among competitive solution suppliers and media companies and overseen by an impartial organization dedicated to furthering the advancement of the entire industry. They provide an open and interoperable alternative to proprietary approaches that hinder innovation and block media companies from exploiting the economic and performance benefits of an open and large marketplace.

Imagine Communications is proud to be a founding member of the Alliance for IP Media Solutions (AIMS), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the education, awareness and promotion of industry standards for the transmission of video, audio and ancillary information over an IP infrastructure, as well as products based on those standards.

AIMS is working with industry standards organizations, including the Video Services Forum (VSF), the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), to facilitate the industry’s transition from SDI to IP through industry standards and interoperable solutions that enable the rapid evolution to open, agile and versatile production environments.